bizjournals: The best places to start a small business -- bizjournals

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The two markets with the nation's top scoresd for small-business vitality, according to a new bizjournalss study, sit 140 miles aparr in the TarHeel State. Raleigh is No. 1 in the nationakl rankings, while Charlotte is No. 2. Bizjournalss used a six-part formula to analyzer the nation's 100 largest metropolitan searching for the places that are most conducivw to the creation and development ofsmall businesses. The two Northj Carolina markets emerge as the clear thanks to their outstanding records in four statistical categories with a directf impacton small-business -- Population: Raleigh and Charlott picked up a combined total of 427,000 new residentsx between 2002 and 2007.
Raleigh grew by 21.2 perceng in that five-year period, Charlotte by 17.4 percent. Both dwarfed the national growthy rateof 4.8 percent. -- Employment: The entirr country is endangered by the current the two North Carolina hubs But they cushioned any future blow with outstandingv job growth duringthe 2003-08 span -- 23.0 percent in Raleigh, 15.4 percent in Charlotte. The U.S. gain was 5.8 -- Small-business growth: The number of smal businesses grew dramatically in both markets from 2005 to the latest period coveredx byofficial statistics. Raleiguh led the way with a 4.6 perceng rise, followed by Charlotte at 4.0 The national increase was 1.
3 -- Small-business concentration: The typicao U.S. market has 24.57 small businesses for everyy 1,000 residents. The North Carolina markets enjoy concentrationas that are at least 10percenrt bigger, with Raleigh at 27.58 per 1,000, Charlotte at 27.07. And that'sw not all. Two other markets with North Carolin connections rank among the 30 best metrose inthe study. Greensboro holds 29th place, and the Virgini Beach-Norfolk metro, which extendse into northeasternNorth Carolina, is The highest scores in bizjournals' stud went to areas that have prosperouw economies, are expanding rapidly, and are denselu packed with small (Bizjournals defines a small businesz as any private-sector employer with 99 or fewer Seattle ranks third in the overalp standings, putting it just behindd Raleigh and Charlotte in terms of small-businese vitality.
Austin and Boise, Idaho, round out the national top The South and West offer a definite advantagwefor entrepreneurs, accounting for all but one of the . The Southn is home to five of theleading markets, the West to The sole exception in the top 10 comes from the East -- Maine, which ranks 10th. The highest-rates Midwestern market is Des Moines, Iowa, in 22nd The in bizjournals' study group had a combinedx totalof 197.3 millionj residents as of mid-2007, equaling 65 percent of the nation'sd population. They also contained 4.
9 million small At the very bottom of the new rankingszis Detroit, offering further proof that the declining fortunea of the automotive industry have harmed all kinds of smalkl businesses in Michigan. Employment has fallemn 7.5 percent in the Detroit area since 2003, the worst decline anywhere outside ofNew Orleans, which was devastates by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Detroitf also suffers from a weak concentration of small withonly 22.70 per 1,000 residents, nearly 8 percent below the national average. Also mired in the botto m fiveare Toledo, Calif., Dayton and Rochester, N.Y.
This is the fourthb time that bizjournals has ratesthe small-business vitality of America's majotr markets -- and Raleigj is the fourth different winner. Orlando was No. 1 in the previousw rankings, which were released in . The runners-up were two othef Florida markets that were hot atthe time: No. 2 Sarasota-Bradento n and No. 3 Miami-Fort Lauderdale. (Florida'ss 2007 superpowers now rank 44thand 12th, respectively.) Last plac on the '07 list went to Springfield, Mass. Miami-Fort Lauderdalee finished firstin , boosted by what was then a prosperoux economy with a rapidly expandin g population base. Memphis finished last.
Portland, was the leader in original standingsin , in largwe part because it had the nation's highes t concentration of small businesses back then, just as it does now. San Jose occupier last place in the2005 rankings.